Kyel was now consumed by envy; he walked like a robot in the school corridors, searching for Talys, as if he could smell his very scent. Kyel's sanity was long gone.
His mental state was unstable, filled with a longing for a final destination when it all would end. Would he succeed or fail? Would it turn out as he anticipated, or would it take another turn?
His father once told him something before he died: "This world is not worth the effort I put in, nor the effort you will make. Simply because there is no equality. No matter what you do, there will be someone who does less than you and succeeds, and no matter what someone else does, they will find you doing less and succeed.
"Even though I understood all of this, I still fought. I didn't know why back then, but when your mother fell sick and died, I knew that she was the one who pushed me to fight, and you, too, my Kyel.
"For those who are bound by emotions, they will always keep fighting. Until those bonds are broken, we are destined to fight—not for ourselves but for those to whom we are bound.
"Not just those positive emotions; even the negative ones, such as hate, enmity, and so on.
"But you see, I'm happy—how foolish and selfish I am—because even in this state, on the verge of death, my own son, whom I fought for to give him a comfortable life—the very son of my flesh and blood, who was born of my lovely, passed wife—is not showing any signs of sadness.
"I'm content that you are bound to your indifference, even if it means you'll lose the joy of life. You won't suffer like I did.
"I'm the happiest fool in this world.
"Take care."
"I had to let you down, my father, because in this very moment, your son is bound to a sin. So am I destined to suffer and fail?
If so, then be it. Humans are difficult to understand: selfish, egotistical, megalomaniacal; yet we possess a crazy adaptability.
That's what carried us to where we stand today: at the top of the food chain on Earth.
In his subconscious state, Kyel was unaware of what was happening, but at that moment, he was standing behind Talys.
Talys was sitting on the edge of the roof of a building, as if he were touching a hidden screen with his fingerprints.
The best thing that happened to him after his childhood bitterness, being tortured by his alcoholic father, was this.
After years of suffering, Talys woke up late at night after being beaten by his father to a voice inside his head. It was painful at first, as if millions of bees were pinching his head from the inside. Talys believed that this was his end and wet himself from the severity of the fear of death, but gradually the pain began to subside.
"I got beaten up hard. Am I disabled right now? What is it with my head? Pity me, dear God! Please, sob why me? Why not someone else?
"WHY ME?"
He sobbed and cried until his eyes dried up, but just then, he heard a sound:
DING: PHYSICAL FUNCTION PROCESSING!
[DING: 1%.....99%]
[DING: PROCESSING ENDED. CONGRATULATIONS!!]
[DING: COMPATIBILITY WITH THE SYSTEM: 78%]
[WELCOME TO THE FATE-CHANGING
SYSTEM.]
[HOST: KINGSLEY TALYS]
.....
After that day, Talys's life changed forever. Now he was laughing and smiling, looking at the floating screen in front of him.
[DING! : YOU HAVE BEATEN UP THE BULLIES 100% WITHOUT GETTING DAMAGED.
REWARD FOR COMPLETING THE MISSION: MAP OF THE UNDERWORLD AREA.]
Talys observed the reward with a disappointed look. A map? Was that some sort of joke?
But just then, an urgent red notification popped up: [ HOST, YOUR LIFE IS IN DANGER! ]
[BE AWARE, BEND DOWN NOW!!!]
"What the fuck? My life is in dang—!?"
But just then, he was shocked; someone pushed him off the edge. Five floors—if he falls, he'll die for sure. But he held on to the edge with his hands and hung there.
Terrified in soul and body, Talys didn't know what had just happened. He was checking his rewards from the system, but then he got pushed off the edge.
His eyes met Kyel's. Without wasting any time, Kyel said, "How do I obtain that so-called system of yours? If you lied, I'll make you fall off!"
Talys, the poor boy, was scared to death. If he fell, inevitable death was his last destination. "System, what are you saying—!"
Kyel removed Talys's right hand that held the edge. Talys wet his pants, thinking about dying.
How ironic. A moment ago, he thought how close he was to glory; yet now, nothing was closer to him than death.
"Please, please—no, please! I don't wanna die—I'll do what you want! Yeah, system, I have—it! I can give it to you! Don't let me fall, please!"
Kyel, with a cold, undefined face, replied, "Then give it to me NOW!"
"Save me first! Please don't kill me! I—I don't know how, but I might have a way to—"
Kyel interrupted him with one word: "DIE!"
Talys fell, screaming his last cry of fear, "AAAAAAAAAH!"
He looked at Kyel as he fell, his eyes terrified, filled with fear. His pants were wet, and it was only seconds before he crashed. The system flashed notifications: ERROR! ERROR! ERROR! HOST, YOU'RE NEAR DEATH! YOU WILL CRUSH IN ONE SECOND!
BAAAAH!
ERROR [ HOST HAS DIED! ]
[THE SYSTEM ISN'T FUNCTIONING!]
Just like that, Talys died. His bones shattered, his eyeballs popped out of his head, and blood filled the area. The nearby students screamed at the scene before them: a student had fallen from the sky. Did he commit suicide? What happened? Everyone hurried to the place.
Kyel looked down at Talys's deformed body from the edge.
It was a point of no return.